Doctor of Spirituality / Lesson IX / coursework - Stefan Schulz

Hello Loretta, hello ULC Seminary, please find my coursework to lesson no. 9 attached. This lesson has given to me a holistic understanding of "miracles" in the interplay of "mind", "spirit", "body", "brain", "ego" and "true self" in this context. Thank you very much for this lesson! Your brother in Christ, Stefan

Name:           Stefan Schulz

Date:             June 18, 2024

Course:        Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary

Lesson:        IX – Miracles

 

1.    Ask a friend of yours to explain his or her understanding of "mind over matter" versus "matter over mind." After listening to them, give them your understanding of the Course's position on how the ego gives the body power over the mind. Give a written report of your conversation.

 In order to discuss and explain the understanding of „mind over matter" vs. „matter over mind", we (my wife and I) structured our conversation by the following working hypothesises:

 

§  Working hypothesis for the term „matter":

o   physical substance, made of elements which have specific chemical and physical properties as well as forms (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)

o   has inertia and is subject to the force of gravity

o   occupies space and possesses mass

o   distinct from energy, but has own, residual energy by itself

o   distinct from consciousness / mind / spirit

o   any object of mass/matter can be moved by applying force to it

 

§  Working hypothesis for the term „enery":

o   two basic forms: a. energy as a concept of natural science, e.g. in form of kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, electromagnetic or nuclear energy and b. spiritual energy

o   is able to move mass/matter

o   has not a measurable mass, but can be converted into matter/mass and vice versa

o   can change but cannot dissapear or be destroyed

 

§  Working hypothesis for the term „mind":

o   holistic faculty of spirit, consciousness and thought of a human being

o   brain is a part of the human body and supports the processes of the mind physically

o   the mind is able to create anything without physical limits or concepts of human reasoning (e.g. time, aging, civilization, science) and is therefore superior to currently known physical or scientific laws

o   the „Ego" has its origin within the human mind and is a self-evolving, changeable part of the mind. It does not pre-exist the physical origination / creation of a human being and can be understood as the „false self"

o   key to a full understanding of the „mind" is the examination of the biblical term "Kingdom within you" (see Gospel of Luke 17:21), which refers to a non-material, true, unchangeable essence of human being and therefore as well as of the human mind, which is part of a human being. It can be understood as one´s „true self" and has an origin that existed before the physical creation of humanity and their minds. In Christian-Hebrew tradition, God created humanity after His "likeness" and in His "image" (see the biblical book of Genesis 1:26-27). This "similarity" refers to the aspect, that His creation is equipped with a specific medium or channel for communicating with His Spirit, which is the „Kingdom within you" mentioned above. In this context „Spirit" can be understood as the flow of pure „universal life energy" from God to every human being (see the biblical Book of Genesis 2:7: "And the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul")

o   hence, in addition to the human mind, there is a universal „higher mind" („God") which pre-exists the human mind

 

Our conclusion based on this holistic understanding of mind is that "mind" under these conditions is fundamentally superior to "matter". After this clarification, we understand the Course's position on how the ego gives power to the body over the mind as follows:

§  In our perspective the validity of this process is due to the ego's key ability to create "illusions" within the human mind by initiating a perpetual, evolving "illusory energy flow" to protect itself, to learn, to grow, to expand, and to dominate all levels of consciousness.

§  The illusionary energy of the ego blocks, or dilutes the pure, real universal life energy flow of God for its purposes. In this respect, the ego tries to make this true-life energy increasingly and permanently no longer come into reality, because the flow and dominance of this true universal life energy would result in its repression and death.

§  As a result, the ego strives to make the universal life energy of God ineffective within the human being by creating the illusion of separation / duality of God and the human being. Speaking metaphorically, for this purpose the ego wants to conquer and to dominate the kingdom of God within the human being.

§  This process blocks or neutralizes any real spiritual energy within the human, so that over time the human being's existence is reduced to its mortal, evolving ego-consciousness and to its body with its brain and its five senses. This is how an ego-dominated entity of action/ perception/ projection is created.

§  This ego-consciousness, robbed of its true spirituality, in combination with its instrument, the body, is then only able to perceive worldly, material, spiritually gutted environmental impulses, to react to them or to project them.

§  Hence, the ego has the bias to transform/to align/to force any perceived divine life energy down to the material and immaterial needs of the ego. This is a process of evolving, perpetual, spiritual separation by which every level of consciousness of the human being is successively transformed through this process. At the same time, the human being is reduced more and more to "this world," i.e. to his/her mere physical existence. Ego and body are merging more and more into a material unity/synthesis by influencing each other.

§  Then real, God-given life energy no longer comes into play due to egoic overlays and blockages. In Christianity this state of being is clearly described in The Epistle to the Romans as "life in the flesh" (see Romans 8:5-8: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.").

2.    Explain how giving reinforces what was given.

The act of giving can on the surface be performed on an immaterial (love, hate, forgiveness, rejection, help, fear etc.) or material (goods, things etc.) level. Giving on a material level can be understood as a symbol/representative of giving on an immaterial level. Every act of giving has an underlying, (un-/sub-)conscious cause/motivation/source/spirit and therefore involves always "mind energy" in form of projection of thoughts, emotions, aims, will, as well as "physical energy" (in order to perform the act of projection physically/ "technically" in form of thought processes of the brain, by using words, prayers, art, music, poetry,  forms non-verbal communication or to initiate any other form of physical activity, e.g. like to provide advice, to write down a plan etc.).

Furthermore, one should note that energy can be exchanged or converted (a change of form), but it can never be lost or disappear. This means that a system always has the same amount of energy, unless it is added from the outside. In this way, what is given continues to be exchanged / multiplied / reinforced / shared / ignored etc. by all beings involved.

In this context, it is essential to understand what the initial/original spiritual source behind the specific act of giving is. Therefore, in my perspective, "giving" includes always a projection of spiritual energy onto other beings.

Through the spiritual (as well as physical) involvement of other beings/entities, the act of projection (=releasing spiritual energy) has also an effect of multiplication. At the initiative level, it can be understood as the beginning of a chain reaction in which the recipient of what has been given will project or process what has been given (un-) consciously and, based on his or her respective state of consciousness. Therefore the recipient will also interact with or project onto other beings as well as onto the giver in reverse.

The ego-mind always sees "giving" (= (sub-) consciously projection) as a "trade" to protect itself, to grow and to dominate at the expense of others, and in this context possibly as a "loss" (of time, money, energy, or material goods), or as a "gain" (e.g. when the goal intended by "giving" is achieved, but also through sharing or transferring of supposed fears, burdens, problems). 

However, the true self, which is in a state of spiritual oneness with God and no longer being blocked, manipulated, diluted or distorted by "egoistic consciousness", will in turn radiate and share the received universal, unchangeable and inexhaustible life energy of God, which is love, forgiveness, peace, joy, righteousness, wisdom, and freedom.

Universal life energy passed on in this way has two effects: The recipient is healed or freed from negative bonds and can therefore also pass on God's experienced love, forgiveness, joy, peace, freedom, etc. to other beings. On the other hand, passed on love, forgiveness etc. does not become less for the giver through passing on, because it will also initiate and reinforce healing and liberation processes of one´s own. This also means that God-given, spiritual, universal life energy has not only the faculty not to be lost, but to increase on its own. Therefore, any sharing of God's true nature is not comparable to any ego-driven "trade" (=a "zero-sum game" of profit and loss) or subject to currently known physical laws, but rather a divine radiation and multiplication of God´s essential qualities and thus the prerequisite for an unlimited growth of universal, inexhaustible, true life energy within and between God's creation.

Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) / Lesson VIII - The Power of Prayer / Stefan Schulz

Name:          Stefan Schulz

Date:            June 10, 2024

Course:       Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary

Lesson:       VIII – The Power of Prayer

Hello Loretta, hello ULC-Seminary, this lesson was life-changing for me because it showed me for the first time fully the causes and destructive effects of the ego in all its facets and has given me a holistic understanding how to deal with it. Thank you very much! Your brother in Christ, Stefan

 

Prayer Exercise:

 

1.    You've heard the expression before that we cannot serve two masters. Give your understanding of what the Course means when it says that we must choose to serve Truth or illusions. There are no other alternatives.

My understanding of what the Course means when it says that we cannot serve two masters is that the correctness of such a spiritual ordering scheme would mean that a state of "duality," "separation," or "split-mindness" in God's creation would be designed accordingly by Him.

God intended His creation to be exactly the opposite. His creation is designed for universal, eternal, unchangeable oneness in Him, expressed and extented through the reflection of His love, joy, forgiveness, freedom and abundance.

Moreover, God has given His creation both the freedom to choose as well as the ability/the gift of having total, pure communion with Him, this by prayer in the Spirit and in the name of Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned in lesson no. 6 (The Nature of Prayer), in the Hebrew-Christian tradition, the act of initial "spiritual creation of life" can originally be traced back to and is vividly depicted in the biblical book of Genesis 2:7: "And the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul", as well as in the Gospel of John 1:1-4: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him nothing that was created was done. There was life in him; and life was the light of men."

Coming from this perspective, God can be understood in this context as all creating universal life force or universal life energy (= spiritually / biblically identified and labeled as "Holy Spirit"). Biblically speaking, God created humanity in His own "likeness" and "image" (see the biblical book of Genesis 1:26-27). This "likeness" implies that His creation is equipped with a particular medium or channel of communication with His Spirit, or for receiving His life energy respectively. This inherent, spiritual medium or channel can be referred to as the totality of the human "mind", "soul", or "consciousness", each with partial, different functions and characteristics (notice in this context the Gospel of Luke, 17:21, where Jesus spoke: "the kingdom of God is within you"; moreover, see the Epistle to Titus, 3:3-5, which states that the eternal life energy of God would be spiritually activated "by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost").

With this in mind, each person is free and has therefore the individual ability and responsibility to choose whether he/she is willing to live in a state of spiritual unity with God or in a state of spiritual duality, meaning the totality of his mind/ soul/ consciousness/ senses is primarily determined and controlled by the "ego".

This also means that any "spiritual hybrid" that contains even a small amount of "ego particles or ego energy" still represents a state of duality/separation/conflict since his/her energy is not yet (completely) connected to the only source of true life and is therefore misguided in its energetic properties in terms of resonance, vibration and frequency. This results into a state of being blocked from the full presence and life energy of God. Pure, unfiltered unity with God and all of His creation and with it, the universal reflection and extension of life-giving attributes such as love, joy, forgiveness and righteousness will then be diluted, distorted or simply be impossible.

In this status of self-imprisonment of duality, however, only fear, doubt, pain, guilt, shame, hatred, conflict, competition, greed, feelings of deserving reward and validation, deception, hiding, cover-up and self-destruction are both produced and projected onto God and His creation.

Therefore, it is spiritually impossible to serve both „antagonistic" masters/creators, namely God (=eternal, unchanging "truth", creating spiritual oneness and spiritual life), or the ego (= perpetual evolving, unreal, programmed "illusion", creating spiritual separation, spiritual conflict and spiritual death).

 

2.    In your own words explain how perception and projection work to dilute the power of prayer.

As stated in lesson no. 6, prayer is in my understanding pure, unadulterated, total, and mutual communion of God with His creation. From a human perspective, prayer is both the celebration and thanksgiving of one's fully restored oneness with God, which means having both personally regained true spiritual life and being able to activate true spiritual life energy in others, through the radiance (= by conscious and unconscious communication) of the perfection of God's light, which is love, forgiveness, joy, abundance, wisdom, truth, and peace.

 

That power of a perpetual flow of receiving and giving/radiating/extending pure life energy in order to activate and multiply true life, which is the creative result of the process of prayer, can be diluted, distorted, or simply not active.

 

This is the case when "prayer" takes place in a state of "duality", i.e. in a state of separation from God. Then „oneness" with God is replaced or determined by the "ego" and the „ego" is able to block, to diminish or to misguide the flow of pure life energy for its own purposes, which is to protect itself, to survive, to expand and to dominate.

 

In the case that the ego negatively influences or makes prayer impossible, this natural flow of true life is replaced by the goals and desires of the ego, which itself continually generates and refines them through conscious, sub- and unconscious, i.e. self-directed, perceptual processes in the three dimensional space. These self-generated goals, desires and energies are then projected onto the ego's particular, interactive life world instead of true, divine life energy.

 

Therefore, the world of the ego, which is (pre)perceived and confirmed by the (sub)conscious and the human senses, appears more and more as wholly or partially "godless", i.e. primarily as "matter". This leads to a competitive mindset in order to satisfy material/worldly desires, to judgments of "success" and "failure" and to related thoughts/imaginations/activities, which also creates a perception and division of time into past, present and future needs, goals, "successes", and "failures". This then leads to a perception of transience, which also determines the "natural consequence" of "death".

 

Once this ultimately misguided perception is mentally accepted and projected into the world, fears arise about not achieving ego-driven goals within one's timeframes, feelings of shame and guilt in the event of failure or in the case of moral scruples, etc. Moreover, the responsibility for „success" and „failure" is transferred to other people and circumstances, i.e. through their reactions to one´s own projected behavior. In this way the ego protects and fuels itself because in this world of misperception the ego will never be the cause of failure or negative emotions. In case of success, however, the ego sees itself as the primary cause and uses this perception for its further growth and to confirm that it is on the right path.

 

With regard to this, ego-driven perception and its projection changes the nature of true prayer fundamentally. In this case, prayer then is not a state of total communion with God anymore. At best, if the existence of God is still recognized in some way, prayer mutates into an instrument of the ego for the fulfillment of wishes and goals as well as both for the reduction of self-created fears, pain and feelings of guilt and shame and for thanksgiving in the case of „success".

 

However, this deprives prayer of its true, divine power, since the ego does not expect a real answer from God in such a „prayer", but only expects the satisfaction of its needs for survival, protection and growth.

 

Doctor of Spirituality / Lesson VII / coursework - Stefan Schulz

Hello Loretta, hello ULC Seminary, please find attached my coursework to lesson no. 7 / The Ladder of Prayer. This lesson was again a very special one for me, as the concept of the Ladder of Prayer helped me to better understand my current state of consciousness and to effectively apply very valuable insights from it to my prayer life. Thank you very much for this wonderful lesson! Your brother in Christ, Stefan

Name:           Stefan Schulz

Date:             June 4, 2024

Course:        Doctor of Spirituality (ACIM) of ULC Seminary

Lesson:        VII – The Ladder of Prayer

 

1.      Explain how the ladder of prayer has affected your understanding of prayer. 

 The ladder of prayer presented in this lesson has affected my understanding of prayer in such a way that for the first time I am able to reflect on my prayer life holistically, i.e. in what underlying spiritual state of consciousness I am really in.

 From this perspective, the ladder of prayer represents a very meaningful concept/benchmark/guide for me to grasp my state of communion with God better and by this, to ask the Holy Spirit to guide and to teach me to pray/to communicate with more substance and awareness.

 In my case, I can say that I got through the period of prayers of need very early after Jesus Christ re-activated my spiritual life and the Holy Spirit began to restore my true self. As I consider the three remaining levels of the prayer ladder (prayers of freedom, of joining, and of humility), my prayer life currently moves in a fluid continuum between these levels. Especially those parts of my prayers that belong to the prayers of freedom show me clearly what unresolved attachments and bondages I still have.

 However, through the conscious consideration of the ladder of prayer, the Holy Spirit has led to the profound understanding that my remaining core or lifetime attachment (which can be characterized as a "struggle for financial independence") is the result of not yet fully resolved traumatic fears, which in turn act as a blockage or shadow for an unclouded communion with God on a higher prayer level.

 

 2.      Write a prayer of need. Change it to a prayer of freedom, then a prayer of joining and finally a prayer of humility. 

Heavenly Father, I pray to you in the name of Jesus Christ, who is my light, truth, way, redeemer, savior, king, priest and brother. Heavenly Father, I turn to you in the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, please guide our communication because You know what I really need in my current state of consciousness.

 A prayer of need:

Heavenly Father, I humbly ask that You be with me and support both my plans and my activities and give me the strength to achieve my desired financial independence in the short term. I have worked so hard for this for so many years, so please leave my professional conditions unchanged until at least mid/late 2026, so that from then on I can finally live free of paid work that has been ultimately forced by the ruling socio-economic system onto me. Heavenly Father, please answer my prayer, which I pray to You as Your Son in Jesus Christ and in Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

A prayer of freedom:

Heavenly Father, I humbly ask that You teach me in and by the Holy Spirit how to let go my all my fears and false perceptions which are related to my goal of financial independence, because they both have occupied and directed my thoughts, my emotions, my words and my acts away from You and has created a self-constructed prison for a very long time.

Please help me to understand that it is only my ego, that over time has created this unnatural, self-evolving belief system, which does not make me free, because due to my egoic, worldly programmed aim of financial independence, this manipulated consciousnness has only caused and fueled

• fear that I perhaps will never be able to reach the goal (e.g. due to weakness, illness, lack of perseverance, lack of toughness and discipline towards myself)
•  rejection and hatred towards an economic, educational and social world system that has forced me into these inhumane, materialistic, economic, physical and mental dependencies and bondages
• rejection, harshness, competition, and anger towards people and agents who could jeopardize or undermine the achievement of my goals
• sadness and disappointment that my life on earth has been overshadowed and controlled by this false consciousness for decades and has stolen true community, joy and love from my family, my friends and me
• consumption of life energy and life time for a false goal and the resulting activities and life-affecting decisions (e.g. choice of place of residence only in relation to the workplace, number of children in relation to financial possibilities, consumption and savings decisions that were only made in relation to the overall goal and by ignoring other factors like well-being of the family)
• false feelings of happiness when intermediate goals or situations critical to success have been "successfully" achieved
• guilt and self-hatred and knowing that these feelings and perceptions are wrongly programmed from my childhood on and have been fueled by previous life experiences, and lead me away from the beauty of God's reality which is oneness, love, forgiveness, joy, wisdom and righteousness

  Heavenly Father, please show me Your way to set me free from this self-made, perfect prison of fear, hate, anger, guilt, sadness, rejection and disappointment.
  You have shown me that I can trust You completely.

  You also have shown me the causes and destructive effects of my ego-driven aim. 

  Moreover, You have shown me why my fears have been completely unfounded and what responsibilities I have missed to carry out in this context.

Please, Heavenly Father, give me the strength and confidence to walk this initial path of enlightenment in You and to end all attachments to my imagined, ego-programmed fears and perceptions.

Thank You for enabling me to walk this path to freedom and into your light with You and in You this far. 

Thank You for showing me that my true opponent is not the worldly "system of economic force", but my programmed perceptions, assumptions, experiences, attachments and negative emotions, i.e. the destructive, self-imprisoning consciousness of my ego. 

Thank You for also showing me how this ego-induced, false consciousness prevents me from having full communion and oneness with you and all creation in true love, joy, peace and abundance.

Please guide me to end this destructive and exhausting state of duality and separateness. Please forgive me my wrong life and the damage it has caused to others. Amen in the name of Jesus Christ.

A prayer of joining:

Heavenly Father, I humbly thank You for guiding me in Your Spirit into the full, conscious understanding that it is only my ego-driven goals, perceptions and consciousness that are keeping me from having fully communion with You and all of Your wonderful creation.

Please let me put aside all of my individual interest and please guide me into the understanding that in Your real universe, which You have created eternally, there are no enemies and no worldly system that denies me real freedom, real joy, real love and real peace. Please forgive me this self-separating victim mentality so that nothing stands between You and me, and re-connect me fully into Your spirit with You and Your entire creation in love, joy, wisdom, righteousness and peace.

Please give me Your confidence that I am not a lonely, self-controlled victim anymore, because I am and always have been Your child and son. Thank You for showing me that I alone was the spiritual inventor and architect of my separateness, self-imprisonment, and loneliness and that this ego-driven segregation prevented me from existing in complete harmony with You and Your creation.

Please cleanse me completely from this unnatural state of being and its projection onto others once and for all. Thank you for changing my attitude to financial independence into an attitude of financial peace. Now I am really ready to join and pray with all my brothers and sisters in undivided communion with You.

Please show me how I can sustain and live out these inspiring spiritual insights within You and share it with others. Amen in the name of Jesus Christ and His golden rule which is documented in Matthew 7:12: „So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them".

A prayer of humility:

Heavenly father, I thank you with my entire mind, soul and consciousness for restoring my spiritual oneness with You and my re-joining with all creation in Jesus Christ, this in love, joy, peace and abundance.  Forgive me if I cannot express my thanksgiving in suitable words.

Thank you for Your love and grace that has literally opened my spiritual eyes and cleansed me of everything destructive, negative, denying, and therefore unreal.

Thank you for bringing me the deep understanding that categories like „struggle", „financials" and „independence" and all related causes and effects are truly not of You, but are solely worldly, ego-bound projections and a mirror of my former state of consciousness.

Thank you for guiding me back to my true, eternal place in You and in Your universe and for allowing me to put aside everything that is not of You so that it can no longer control and determine my spiritual existence.

Thank You for restoring to me my true identity in Jesus Christ and for allowing me to be one with You and Your whole creation. From now on, Heavenly Father I humbly ask you to protect me and all my sisters and brothers from everything that is not of You. Please never allow anything that does not come from You to gain power over me again.

Thank you for Your guidance, protection, forgiveness, unity and peace. Amen in the name of Jesus Christ.